Which 3.5" drive to pair with Intel X-25M?

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:02 am

I plan to get an Intel X-25M SSD for OS/programs. I can't decide on a fast and quiet 3.5" for storage. Which drive has the best speed/quietness ratio? Never pay attention to the color. Which brand/color is the fastest yet quiet drive? I read both WD and Samsung have green and blue. Samsung has F1, F2, and F3. Feedback appreciated.

swivelguy2 · Post by **swivelguy2** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:10 am

The basic choice to make is between 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM. 7200 is faster, 5400 is quieter and lower power. In my opinion, the point of getting an SSD is that you can store everything you need frequently on it, and pair it with a 5400 RPM for large things you don't need to be fast, like redundant backups and media files.

So, how important is it to you that the files on your spinning disk are fast? What will you need to store that won't fit on your X25-M?

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:07 am

If I get the 160GB SSD, I should be able to fit all programs onto it without worrying it ever run low and leave with lots to spare. If I go for 80GB, I probably still have lots to spare after the OS and all programs.

For storage, I have lots of mp3, mp4, ripped dvd movies. Will it not make sense if I get a WD Green for storage since I have a SSD for programs for fast loading, but a slow drive to load files?

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:58 am

Even the green 5x00 RPM drives are faster than you need to play/copy/create large files.

jtcb · Post by **jtcb** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:22 am

Is this a good choice?

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-I ... 433&sr=8-1

swivelguy2 · Post by **swivelguy2** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:39 am

Yes, seems that there's no reason for you to go with 7200 RPM. The WD Caviar Green or the Samsung F2 Eco-Green are both good choices. I have a 1.5 TB F2 Eco-Green myself, but it's in an external enclosure and hooked up to a super-noisy laptop, so I can't really comment on how loud it would be suspended in a quiet PC.

Calgarian · Post by **Calgarian** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 3:36 pm

I've bought the 160GB Intel SSD and the 1TB Green model you're looking at is the one that seems to be the best pairing choice for me as well.

Almost bought it on the way home from work today.

If anyone wants to chime in with advice on partitions.....??

This 1TB has the new "advanced format". It has two platters, is it "best" to make each platter an individual partition?

Vicotnik · Post by **Vicotnik** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:10 pm

Are you sure you need 160GB? A 40GB or 80GB SSD seems more reasonable to me, since SSDs still are new tech with a price tag to match. I would have gotten the 40GB instead of the 80GB version, had it been available when I bought mine.

Never pay good money for performance/capacity you don't need - upgrade more often instead. Golden rule for most computer hobbyists. In a professional environment it can be different, with large costs associated with upgrades, but for most hobbyists it's just fun.

swivelguy2 · Post by **swivelguy2** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:19 pm

Calgarian wrote:This 1TB has the new "advanced format". It has two platters, is it "best" to make each platter an individual partition?

What you describe is not possible. If you make 2 half-TB partitions, the first partition will exist on the outer 50% of each platter and the 2nd on the inner 50%. This is way, way faster than putting separate partitions on separate platters, which would make half of your read/write heads useless at any given time.

I partitioned my 1.5 TB storage drive into approximately 100 GB for general files (although I don't use this very much at all), 300 GB for document backups, and finally ~1TB for ripped movies. A roughly logarithmic progression of drive sizes always seems to make the most sense

Calgarian · Post by **Calgarian** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:02 pm

swivelguy2 wrote:What you describe is not possible.

Aha!

The proverbial "I did not know that!" Thank You.

Calgarian · Post by **Calgarian** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:12 pm

Vicotnik wrote:Are you sure you need 160GB? A 40GB or 80GB SSD seems more reasonable to me,

I don't know about jtcb,.....I did very seriously consider the 40Gb version. At one point in my preparations, I did buy the 80GB version.....ended up with two of them in fact, I could say I ended up saving money by trading to a 160

For this upgrade (which includes going from XP to W7), I finally decided one "larger" SSD would be better to start with paired with one new HDD....and I'll add other SSD's later.

cmthomson · Post by **cmthomson** » Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:58 pm

If you don't need more than 500GB of bulk storage, get a Samsung F2. Very low power, practically silent, and doesn't need any cooling.